In March 1860, Zeng Guofan decided to attack Anqing in three major armies, one of which was led by Zeng Guoquan, and his 8,000 men were ordered to the north of Anqing City. After Zeng Guoquan arrived in Anqing, he did not attack the city, but ordered the Xiang army to lay down their weapons and replace them with agricultural tools and start digging.
The title of the Xiang Army's "Digging Brigade" was by no means a vain name, and soon the two trenches around Anqing City on three sides began to take shape. The Peasant-born Xiang Army had a special affection for the soil, and their passion for digging trenches never diminished. In the absence of other tasks, the army seemed to be dealing with the dirt forever, perhaps knowing that at critical moments the trenches were an inch deep and the earthen walls were a foot high, and they could save lives.
The south of Anqing City was the Yangtze River, and it was impossible to dig soil, so Yang Yuebin's water division came in handy, and this water division directly blocked the south side of Anqing City. Anqing City had been sealed on all sides by the Xiang army, and in the next year and a half, the Taiping Army, with Chen Yu as the main force, never broke through.
The front line positions of the Xiang Army were interlocked, divided into two parts in the Anqing Trench, the front trench besieged the city, and the rear trench refused to help; outside the trench was a fence wall, mainly defending the Taiping Army's horse team.
This kind of boiling, slow-working tactics give people a very stupid, very low-level illusion. Is this really the case? In fact, this kind of "stupid method" of cutting off the enemy's grain route and the enemy's retreat route can often play an unexpected role on the battlefield. As a professor commented: "The secret of Zeng Guofan's war is: use the world's stupidest method to fight the world's smartest battle." ”
Anqing was important and was the capital of Anhui from 1760 (the Qianlong period) to 1938. After Being Occupied by the Taiping Army, Anqing also had a very high status, second only to Tianjing (Nanjing). Due to Anqing's special status, in the face of the iron barrel array of Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army, the Taiping Army naturally wanted to go all out to rescue Anqing. At this time, there were only two people left in Hong Xiuquan's military capacity, one was The British King Chen Yucheng and the other was Li Xiucheng.
In the defense of Anqing, Chen Yucheng was the one who contributed the most. In contrast, Li Xiu's achievements are a bit unauthentic. Li Xiucheng and Chen Yucheng are at odds with each other, and he has little interest in rescuing An Qing. Li Xiucheng has his own little calculation, and he is bent on establishing a ruling area with Suzhou as the core.
Chen Yucheng and Li Xiucheng targeted Anqing and planned to "encircle Wei and save Zhao", and several large armies attacked Wuhan with all their might, forcing the Xiang army that besieged Anqing to withdraw to aid Wuhan.
This was a good plan, but due to Li Xiucheng's non-cooperation, his troops were delayed in arriving at the agreed time, which directly led to the failure of this plan. There were about 20,000 Taiping troops in Anqing City, and they could only continue to starve.
The Taiping Army had always wanted to have a big showdown with the Xiang Army, comparing real knives and guns in the open area. The early days of the Xiang Army were indeed as the Taiping Army wished, but after the Battle of Wuchang (the Xiang Army suffered more than 3,000 casualties) and the Battle of the Three Rivers (the Xiang Army suffered more than 6,000 casualties), Zeng Guofan gradually changed his thinking, not seeking a quick battle and a quick decision, but only seeking a steady and steady battle.
After the Xiang Army changed its thinking and began to dig trenches to implement the iron barrel array, the nightmare of the Taiping Army began. The trenches and fence walls were interlocked, and the Taiping Army outside could not attack, and the Taiping Army inside could not fight, and could only sit and wait for a long period of consumption.
In August 1861, under the personal command of Chen Yucheng, the Ten Roads Army approached Anqing City and launched a final rescue operation against Anqing City. For five days, from August 25 to 30, the Taiping Army killed more than 10,000 people, and the corpses filled in the trenches, but never broke through the Xiang army's defense line. Chen Yucheng's last effort was still unable to relieve the siege of Anqing.
In September 1861, Zeng Guoquan used explosives to blow up a section of the city wall, and the Xiang army invaded anqing city. At this time, the Taiping Army led by Ye Yunlai had long lost its combat effectiveness due to a long period of grain shortages, and Anqing City was easily occupied by the Xiang Army. The British palace in the city also became the front line headquarters of Zeng Guofan until the fall of Tianjing in 1864 and the fall of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
In May 1862, Chen Yucheng planned to attack the Central Plains region "from Bieliang (Kaifeng) directly to Yanjing and unify together", but was later betrayed by the traitor Miao Peilin and captured by the Qing army. On June 4 of the same year, he was executed by Ling Chi in Henan at the age of twenty-six!
If Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army did not adopt the "iron barrel array" but instead fought a quick battle with the Taiping Army unchanged, I am afraid that history would be rewritten!